SRT Home Page What is the SRT Project? Site Map & Subject Index What's New? Highlights Current Talking Point The Big Issues The Big Issues "Engineering Genesis" Genetic Engineering GM Food GM Animals Human Genetics Cloning Xenotransplantation Patenting Risk Environment Climate Change Energy Nuclear Power Transport Eco-Congregation Church Energy Saving Technology Internet Issues Science & Faith SRT Publications SRT Newsletter SRT Information Sheets General Assembly Reports SRT Topical Papers Press Room Contact SRT Send a comment Guest Book SRT Trust & Associates Links European Christian     Environmental Network Eco-Congregation

Society, Religion and Technology Project Church of Scotland Looking at the ethics of technology for a New Millennium

PRESS RELEASE - 12 October 2002 - Immediate release

Dr Donald Bruce, Society Religion & Technology Project, Church of Scotland

Tel.0131-240 2250, Fax 0131-240 2239, Email: srtp@srtp.org.uk http://www.srtp.org.uk or Church of Scotland Press Office 0131- 240 2243

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Internationally sensitive ethical questions are raised by the statement by Professor Ian Wilmut that the Roslin Institute outside Edinburgh is considering applying for a stem cell research licence which might involve creating human cloned embryos. Earlier this year the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research said that cloned embryos 'should not be created for research purposes unless there is a demonstrable and exceptional need which cannot be met by the use of surplus embryos.'

The Church of Scotland's Society Religion and Technology Project has been in the forefront of the ethical debate over cloning technologies since 1996. Its Director Dr Donald Bruce says "While it is legal in the UK to create cloned embryos for stem cell research, it remains highly controversial both in the UK and abroad. It is surprising that Roslin are announcing their intention to go beyond using surplus IVF embryos without making clear what is their 'exceptional reason' for doing so. A case has not so far been made why it is thought necessary to clone embryos at this stage. The licensing authorities will need to examine this very carefully."

It is also an acutely sensitive issue in the current international scene. When the UK Parliament voted in favour of embryo cloning research, it met with serious criticism in the European Parliament, and the European Commission's ethical advisory group stated that research on cloned embryos "would be premature since there is a wide field of research to be carried out with alternative sources of human stem cells (from spare embryos, foetal tissues and adult stem cells)."

This month, a United Nations committee is debating a French and German proposal to ban reproductive human cloning. Dr Bruce recently addressed UN delegates in New York in support of this ban. While a UN ban would have near universal support, its prospects have been set back last week by a counter proposal from the USA and Spain to widen its scope to outlaw cloning embryos for research purposes of the type Roslin wish to do. The US has begun lobbying hard for this alternative view. Its motives for doing so are unclear, given the fact that it has resisted imposing any binding anti-cloning legislation on its own private sector. UN observers say there is no prospect that the US's wider proposal would get an international consensus. The risk is now that the UN would have no ban on reproductive cloning at all - the worst of both worlds.

Into such a delicate political situation, Roslin's announcement that they want to press ahead with research cloning is singularly unfortunate. It could fan the flames for those fearing the link between research cloning and cloning humans, at a time when restraint would seem more prudent.

Back to Contents

Further Information